Regional News of Thursday, 4 January 2024
Source: Leo Nelson, Contributor
Parliamentary Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ketu North Constituency, Edem Eric Agbana has encouraged pupils of Xipe M/A Basic School, his alma mater, not to rest on their oars in the pursuit of academic excellence.
He was speaking at a grand durbar to climax activities that marked the 49th celebration of "Deviza" (festival) of the Chiefs and people of Xipe in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta region, Saturday, December 30.
A quiz competition event preceded the festival and was organized by a youth group, XIPE Youth for Development (XIYOD) for selected pupils of Xipe M/A Basic School.
The competition dubbed, "XIYOD Smart-Brain Quiz Competition" was organized by the youth group, in collaboration with its partners, Jopasty Garments, RAK Daily Bread Foundation, Napoleon Relosa, and ENIGMA Sports Bar and Eatery.
The aim is to instill the culture of reading among basic school pupils and to generally improve upon teaching and learning outcomes in the community.
The young politician who hails from the area and who was the first student from Xipe Basic School to have won a PC for Ketu North urged the participating students to continue to press hard and take their studies seriously to excel academically to contribute meaningfully to nation-building.
The 2023 edition of the quiz competition saw 12 students, divided into 4 sections (red, green, blue, and yellow) participating, with the red section emerging winners with 73 points.
The winning team was presented with exercise books, pens, pencils, school bags, and a certificate of participation which is a bragging right among the participants.
In a keynote address at the festival, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu North, Dr. James Klutse Avedzi who is also a native of Xipe, admonished the youth of the area to eschew negative attitudes and focus on positive things that promote the good image of the Xipe community.
"As future leaders of this community, it is incumbent on you to eschew negative attitudes and focus on things that promote the positive image of our community - hold fast to only what is good and acceptable in society," he said.
The quiz competition and a football gala were part of activities that characterized the festival which was hailed as successful and was patronized by scores of citizens of Xipe, well-wishers among other dignitaries.
It was celebrated on the theme: "Character formation, a prerequisite for community development."